James Dietterich sifts through dirt for artifacts.
Photographer: Douglas Levere

Among the artifacts discovered was a child’s shoe.
Photographer: Douglas Levere

A piece of pipe was uncovered at the site.
Photographer: Douglas Levere

A small cannonball was among the artifacts discovered at the site.
Photographer: Douglas Levere

Nathan Montague describes some of the artifacts to Jaida Keaeney, 10, and Janai Swygert, 9. The public is invited to visit the site. Work will take place from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. July 27 and 31, and Aug. 7, 10 and 21.
Photographer: Douglas Levere

UB archaeologists continue Erie Canal dig

By PATRICIA DONOVAN

“This excavation is helping to uncover and present artifacts that serve as testaments to a rich and fascinating aspect of Buffalo’s history that many of us hardly know.”

Nathan Montague, excavation director

Department of Anthropology

Once swampy grassland dotted with sheep, then a booming center
of the nation’s economy, Buffalo’s Erie Canal
neighborhood has lived many lives over the past 200 years and now
is giving up some of its secrets.

For the second year in a row, it is doing so through UB’s
popular Demonstration Archaeological Excavation. The excavation is
now open in downtown Buffalo’s old Erie Canal neighborhood
and archaeologists will be digging away through the entire
summer.

The site is directly across
Main Street from the “Webster block,” bounded by Main
and Hanover streets east of the Skyway. The site will be marked
with large banners that feature historical photos, descriptions of
the area during the last century and descriptions of the dig
itself.

The public is invited to visit the site, observe its operation
and talk with archaeologists and historians working there about the
process of archaeology, what they’ve found and what it tells
us about life along the canal from the early 1800s onward.
Artifacts from the excavation and prior excavations will be
displayed and discussed in terms of their significance to our
understanding of the city of Buffalo from its earliest days.

The site was opened by backhoe on June 5. Hand excavation has
begun and will continue until the end of August from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m.—cleanup begins at 3 p.m.—on the following days:
June 5, 15, 19 and 29; July 3, 13, 17, 27 and 31, and Aug. 7, 10
and 21.

The canalside excavation is funded by the UB Department of
Anthropology, which houses the Archaeological Survey directing the
dig, and the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation as part of
the corporation’s Canalside Visitor Experience Program. The
project also has received assistance from the city of Buffalo and
Buffalo Place Inc.

The Skyway looms overhead as Nathan Montague (left) and James Dietterich focus on their work.

Photo: Douglas Levere

Excavation director Nathan Montague, senior research support
specialist in the Department of Anthropology, says he expects the
project to produce new artifacts and present new information about
the site itself. Visitors are encouraged to return often to check
on the excavation’s progress

“The mission of this effort is not only to excavate the
area but to educate the public about the canal and canal life,
generate interest in the canal excavation and restoration work, and
help people understand the work of archaeologists in
general,” Montague says.

“Artifacts from the site will tell stories of the people
who lived and worked here when the Canalside neighborhood was the
center of Buffalo’s—and the
nation’s—economy,” he says.

At its terminus in Buffalo, the canal’s main body, plus
its many slips and adjuncts, covered a lot of territory. It ran
southwest parallel to the harbor and ended at the Commercial
(Street) Slip (crafted from Little Buffalo Creek), where it met
Lake Erie and the Buffalo River. Montague points out that most of
the harbor section of the canal was filled in by the 1930s, which
is why we don’t “remember” where it was.

“So where we propose to dig is now an abandoned
field,” he says, “but four- and five-story brick
buildings once covered this entire block of land between the canal
and the Buffalo Harbor.

Among the artifacts found at the dig site was a green-glass bottle. Photo: Douglas Levere

“The lower floors of those buildings typically housed
businesses like warehouses, wholesale groceries, taverns, insurance
companies and hardware stores, while upper floors were used for
lodging or storage. Some of the buildings likely were erected in
the 1830s and the last ones weren’t torn down until about 40
years ago.

“It’s hard to say what we’ll find down
there,” Montague says, “but previous digs
we’ve conducted nearby have uncovered pipe stems and other
personal items, dinner plates, commercial objects, a lot of brick
and mortar, coal dust, ash and something that could be a cannonball
or part of a ship’s ballast.

“Last summer we turned up building materials, objects
related to daily use, ceramics and cups, and parts of
children’s toys, and parts of tools—all evidence of the
daily lives of people living and working here. We will probably
find similar items and even may find a few surprises,” he
says.

The layout and use of this area has changed dramatically over
the years, Montague says. Before the canal, this block was
part of a swampy area at the bottom of the bluff where HSBC stands
today. “People would graze their sheep here,” he
says.

“Once the canal arrived, products from the
west—grain, vegetables, finished items like shoes,
etc.—came through here in abundance, as did an enormous range
of products from the east headed west. These were accompanied by
swarms of people who traveled in both directions and new retail
establishments that served their needs. Many, many thousands of
people worked here, lived here and stayed in hotels and shopped
while they waited to ship out in boats going east and
west.”

That certainly was one of the city’s maritime heydays.

Montague says that after the Civil War, more rail lines came in
and the canal traffic began to wane. By by end of 19th century, the
importance of this part of the waterfront diminished as a shipping
area.

“Eventually,” he says, “Italian
immigrants moved into what was a tough, high-crime area, and their
arrival was marked by diminished crime and the establishment of
more residential and commercial activities. But the buildings
themselves eventually began to fall apart and by the 1930s Little
Italy was moving into the West Side. By the 1940s, most of those
buildings were demolished and by the 1970s, it was pretty much
finished as a residential or commercial site.”

Instead, there was the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, the Skyway
and wide, barren fields.

“It’s such an interesting experience for those of us
who live here now to be able to connect with a world we don’t
remember and can hardly imagine,” he says. “This
excavation is helping to uncover and present artifacts that serve
as testaments to a rich and fascinating aspect of Buffalo’s
history that many of us hardly know.”

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